It focused on data-building and fundraising for a re-election campaign. In May , a senior aide to the campaign, Healy Baumgardner-Nardone, disclosed that she was lobbying for the Malaysian government.

As president, Trump has repeatedly rejected the conclusions of the U. Trump has stated that he is a "conservative Republican".

Opposition to international trade agreements on the grounds that they hurt American workers by moving jobs abroad was one of the central themes of Trump's campaign.

Navarro and the international private equity investor Wilbur Ross authored a short economic endorsement plan for the Donald Trump presidential campaign in September which was published without academic references and criticized in the press.

If the United States really did adopt Trump's plan, the result would be an immediate and unmitigated disaster. He warned that trade deficits could jeopardize U.

One of his main missions is to focus on behaviors by other countries that considers abusive, cheating, illegal, and unfair against the U.

The campaign drew heavily on Trump's personal image, enhanced by his previous media exposure. Prior to his presidential bid, The Trump Organization also relied on the 'Trump' surname as a key part of its marketing strategy.

Consequently, the 'Trump' name was in widespread use in the U. Due to successful branding and media coverage, Trump soon gained a leverage in the race despite spending comparatively little on advertising himself.

Before the announcement of Mike Pence as running mate in July , the campaign relied on a wordmark of the 'Trump' surname capitalised and set in the bold Akzidenz-Grotesk typeface.

Following the announcement, the campaign unveiled a new logo combining the names of the two candidates by featuring an interlocking 'T' and 'P', formed to create the image of the American flag.

The primary slogan of the Trump campaign, extensively used on campaign merchandise, is Make America Great Again. The red baseball cap with the slogan emblazoned on the front became a symbol of the campaign, and is frequently donned by Trump and his supporters.

In addition, UK big data voter opinion influencer Cambridge Analytics was hired by the Trump campaign in The firm also sent impostors who acted like wealthy individuals only to give them bribes.

In October , the Trump campaign had field offices compared to Clinton's During the campaign, Trump reportedly programmed his own campaign rally playlists.

In his book "Think Like a Billionaire" he states that he returns to favorites like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett , while also appreciating a more diverse catalogue including rap artist Eminem and reggae group Toots and The Maytals.

The Trump campaign was publicly criticized for unauthorized use of music by several artists including the Rolling Stones , R. In response, a petition to "Stop promoting Donald Trump" accused the media of giving Trump endless airtime for the purpose of increasing viewership and ratings and quickly amassed over , signatures.

Well the demand is pretty high so it's hard not to do them. And it's free media. And we've literally gotten hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free media.

No other candidate can talk when everybody is talking about you. So there's some strategic benefit to it. In a January interview with CBS, Trump said of his campaign's plans to purchase advertising; "I think I'm probably wasting the money.

Look, I was going to have 35 or 40 million spent by now. I haven't spent anything. I almost feel guilty … I'm leading by, as you all say, a lot. You can take the CBS poll.

You can take any poll and I'm winning by a lot. I don't think I need the ads. But I'm doing them. I almost feel guilty.

In February , in response to complaints from Trump that Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly would be unfair to him in a Republican primary debate preceding the Iowa caucuses , Fox released a sarcastic statement about Trump, saying they were "surprised he's willing to show that much fear", regarding Kelly.

Trump frequently criticized the media for writing what he alleged to be false stories about him and referred to them as being the "worst people" [] and he has called upon his supporters to be "the silent majority", apparently referencing the media.

After Trump won the nomination, historians Fredrik Logevall and Kenneth Osgood noted that, "Hardly a day passes without some columnist comparing Donald J.

A study found that media coverage of Trump led to increased public support for him during the primaries.

According to some polling data, it appeared that Trump was receiving little support from African Americans. In a Morning Consult national poll in August , only five percent of black voters said they intend to vote for Trump.

Speaking in Virginia on August 23, , Trump said, "You're living in your poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed — what the hell do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump?

It is a disaster the way African-Americans are living We'll get rid of the crime You'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot.

Ben Carson , and attended a church service. Trump was interviewed afterward by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson for later broadcast on the church's cable channel.

On September 15, as Trump was addressing a small assembly at Bethel United Methodist Church in Flint, Michigan , the pastor, Faith Green Timmons, interrupted him as he criticized Clinton , asking him not to "give a political speech".

Omarosa Manigault , the director of African-American outreach for Trump's presidential campaign, [] said in a Frontline special that "Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump.

It's everyone who's ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.

Eleven donated to Trump's rival Clinton, and 89 contributed to neither candidate. This represents a substantial shift from the presidential election, in which Republican nominee Mitt Romney received major support from top American business executives.

In May , the president of the U. Chamber of Commerce commented that the business community is cautious about both Trump and Clinton, adding that there "hasn't been much support from the business community for either of them.

Reasons cited for their support of Trump included opposition to Obamacare and immigration, as well as feeling "fed up with politicians".

Other members of the business community were critical of Trump. In June , the Clinton campaign released a list of endorsements from more than 50 current and former business leaders, including several longtime Republicans.

Trump's right-wing populist positions— nativist , protectionist , and semi- isolationist —differ in many ways from traditional conservatism. While insisting that Washington is "broken" and can only be fixed by an outsider, [12] [] [] Washington-based conservatives were surprised by the popular support for his positions.

Trump polled well with Tea Party voters, and politicians with strong tea party ties, such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann , similarly endorsed Trump.

Some prominent conservatives praised Trump. Newt Gingrich described him as the latest incarnation of the Reagan Revolution, and had said that his election would be "very healthy for America".

In July and August , U. Senator John McCain former presidential candidate, Vietnam War naval veteran, and prisoner of war and Trump criticized each other on several occasions, primarily over their differing positions on immigration.

He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured. Eventually, McCain endorsed Trump because he was the nominee of the Republican party.

John McCain for his service to our country in uniform and in public office and I fully support and endorse his reelection. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham , a primary rival, was "one of Trump's fiercest critics".

He called Trump a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" and asserted that Trump doesn't have the temperament or judgment to be president.

The Jeb Bush —Trump dynamic was one of the more contentious relationships among the Republican contenders.

According to The Washington Post , the most telling aspect of the Bush—Trump duel may have been the fact that, "No candidate in the race was prepared for GOP voters' opposition to immigration, with the exception of Trump", and the anti-illegal immigration sentiment that Trump tapped into throughout the campaign, and with the Act of Love advertisement.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was a primary rival for the Republican nomination. In the early days of the primary Cruz showered praise on Trump.

But as the primary season went on, Cruz went on the attack, calling Trump a "bully" and a "pathological liar", and Trump took to referring to Cruz as "Lyin' Ted".

On November 1, , The Wall Street Journal published an open letter signed by economists, including eight Nobel laureates, who stated that Trump would be a "dangerous, destructive" choice for president and which encouraged voters to vote for some other candidate.

The letter stated that Trump "misinforms the electorate, degrades trust in public institutions with conspiracy theories, and promotes willful delusion over engagement with reality"; that "If elected, he poses a unique danger Peter Navarro of the University of California, Irvine, one of Trump's senior economic advisers, called the letter "an embarrassment to the corporate offshoring wing of the economist profession who continues to insist bad trade deals are good for America.

As separate from his academic books on economics, the Navarro 4-page political endorsement of Trump in the election campaign has had few supporters.

During a Republican primary debate in , Trump called Snowden a "total traitor" and "terrible threat" and again called him "a spy.

Trump was one of ten candidates in the main Fox News debate on August 6, Bret Baier questioned Trump about Obamacare , [] Chris Wallace asked him about Mexican illegal immigrants, [] and Megyn Kelly asked about how he would respond to the Clinton campaign saying that he was waging a " war on women ".

In a later interview with Don Lemon on CNN Tonight , Trump said that Kelly is a "lightweight" and had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her Following the Megyn Kelly incident, Roger Stone , Trump's veteran political adviser, left the campaign, citing "controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights".

Fox News responded with a statement saying that Trump's behavior was an "extreme, sick obsession" beneath the dignity of a presidential nominee.

Following the meeting, Trump stated that Kelly was "very, very nice" and regarding the meeting: By the way, in all fairness, I give her a lot of credit" for requesting it.

Trump's popularity among Hispanic and Latino Americans was low according to polling data; a nationwide survey conducted in February showed that some 80 percent of Hispanic voters had an unfavorable view of Trump including 70 percent who had a "very unfavorable" view , more than double the percentage of any other Republican candidate.

Alarm at Trump's rise prompted an increase in the number of eligible Latino immigrants who have chosen to naturalize to vote against him.

In August , Trump created and met with a Hispanic advisory council. Support from top former U. Trump led in polling of military veterans and military households in September , [] [] although his performance with this group trailed "well behind that of other recent Republican candidates".

On February 24, , former presidential candidate Mitt Romney called on Trump to release his tax returns, suggesting they contain a "bombshell".

Unlike many other Republican critics who came around after Trump was confirmed as the presumptive nominee, Romney continued his "increasingly lonely" challenge to Trump.

He explained, "I wanted my grandkids to see that I simply couldn't ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world.

In contrast, while Romney was running for president in , he praised Trump and sought his endorsement. A concerted effort by some Republicans and other prominent conservatives to prevent Trump from obtaining the Republican Party presidential nomination gained momentum following Trump's wins in the Super Tuesday primaries on March 15, Among the strategies discussed were a "unity ticket", [] a possible third-party candidate and a contested convention, especially if Trump does not gain the 1, delegates necessary to secure the nomination.

In June , activists Eric O'Keefe and Dane Waters formed a group called Delegates Unbound , attempting to convince delegates to vote for whomever they want.

The committee then endorsed the opposite option, voting 87—12 to include rules language specifically stating that delegates were required to vote based on their states' primary and caucus results.

Other conservative commentators were strongly opposed to him. National Review released a January special issue called "Against Trump", in opposition to Trump's bid for the presidency.

In December when Trump called for a ban on foreign Muslims entering the country, Ryan said "What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it's not what this country stands for.

On August 2, , one week before Ryan faced a primary for re-election to his house seat, Trump declined to endorse him, saying "I'm just not quite there yet.

In October , following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy , Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, [] announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign, and in a highly unusual move he freed down-ticket congressional members to use their own judgment, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district.

Trump is a Presbyterian and says he attends Marble Collegiate Church , although the church said in a statement that he is "not an active member".

The Art of the Deal is his "second-favorite book after the Bible". Trump solicited the support of religious leaders, inviting dozens of Christian and Jewish leaders to his New York City offices for a meeting and laying on of hands prayer gathering in September Trump drew high levels of evangelical support despite holding political views and religious commitments at odds with many evangelicals.

Conversely, some Christian religious leaders criticized Trump. After finishing a trip to the U. This is not in the Gospel. Other figures made more direct religious-based critiques of Trump, including from the American Christian right.

Moore , the head of the Southern Baptist Convention 's public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission , is a prominent Trump critic and argued that Christians should vote for a conservative third party.

Trump struggled with Mormon voters, affecting his party's grip on Utah, where Mormons constitute a majority, and Nevada, where they are a significant minority.

Reasons for this include Trump's rhetoric concerning Muslims, which Mormons see as a parallel to their own historic persecution. The phrase "One people under one God" was noted as having been used repeatedly in Trump speeches, especially to religious groups.

Trump praised the U. Tea Party movement throughout his campaign. These are people who work hard and love the country and they get beat up all the time by the media.

Trump called his wife Melania "my pollster" and had said that she supported his presidential run. They were reportedly influential in persuading Trump to fire his controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in June Wikileaks popularized conspiracies about the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton, such as tweeting an article which suggested Clinton campaign chairperson John Podesta engaged in satanic rituals, which was later revealed to be false [] [] [] [] implying that the Democratic Party had Seth Rich killed, [] suggesting that Clinton wore earpieces to debates and interviews, [] claiming that Hillary Clinton wanted to drone strike Assange, [] promoting conspiracy theories about Clinton's health, [] [] [] and promoting a conspiracy theory from a Donald Trump-related internet community tying the Clinton campaign to child kidnapper Laura Silsby.

There was a large gender gap in support for Trump, with women significantly less likely to express support than men. Donald Trump ended up winning almost twice as many non-college educated white women than Hillary Clinton, although Clinton outperformed Trump with votes from college-educated white women.

From the outset of his campaign, Trump was endorsed by various white nationalist and white supremacist movements and leaders.

Republican presidential rivals were quick to respond on his wavering, and Senator Marco Rubio stated the Duke endorsement made Trump un-electable.

Later the same day Trump stated that he had previously disavowed Duke in a tweet posted with a video on his Twitter account.

I disavowed the KKK. On July 22, the day after Trump's nomination , Duke announced that he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.

He commented, "I'm overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I've championed for years.

On August 25, , Clinton gave a speech saying that Trump is "taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party.

During the election season, the Alt-right movement "evangelized" online in support of racist and anti-semitic ideologies. They also confirmed their support of Trump, saying "This is what a leader looks like.

Richard Spencer , who runs the white nationalist National Policy Institute , said, "Before Trump, our identity ideas, national ideas, they had no place to go".

The Southern Poverty Law Center monitored Trump's campaign throughout the election and noted several instances where Trump and lower-level surrogates either used white nationalist rhetoric or engaged with figures in the white nationalist movement.

The subreddit was criticized by Vice , which stated in an article that the subreddit was "authoritarian," "racist," "misogynistic," "homophobic," "Islamophobic," and a "hypocritical 'free speech' rallying point.

It is an article of faith among posters that anti-racists are the real bigots, feminists are the actual sexists, and progressive politics are, in effect, regressive.

The Pew Research Center found that 69 percent of Trump supporters viewed immigrants as a burden, rather than a benefit, to the US, and 64 percent believed that American Muslims should be subject to greater scrutiny solely on the basis of their religion.

Reuters reported that 40—50 percent of Trump supporters viewed African-Americans as being more "lazy", "rude", "violent", or "criminal" than whites, compared to 25—30 percent for Clinton supporters; while 32 percent of Trump supporters believed that African-Americans were less intelligent than whites, compared to 22 percent of Clinton supporters.

University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers, analyzing a national survey of likely Republican primary voters from December , found that having an authoritarian personality and a fear of terrorism were the only two variables among those tested that were statistically significant predictors of Trump support.

A geographical study found support for Trump in the Republican primaries was correlated positively with the following factors in order of statistical strength: In October Trump had said: I have disavowed all super PACs, requested the return of all donations made to said PACs, and I am calling on all presidential candidates to do the same.

After becoming the presumptive nominee in early May, the Trump campaign announced that it would be seeking large donations for the general election, [] and that Trump would not be self-funding his campaign in the general election.

At a campaign stop in Wilmington, North Carolina , on August 9, Donald Trump said that Hillary Clinton wanted to "essentially abolish the Second Amendment " because of her support for gun control.

He said if she nominates judges to the Supreme Court , there would be nothing that could be done about it, and then added, "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.

Trump's comment sparked condemnation from various Democrats and Republicans for being perceived as suggesting violence against Clinton or liberal jurists, instead of suggesting political action.

Clinton Campaign spokesman Robby Mook released a statement that said, " Secret Service was aware of Trump's comments. Politifact noted that some people saw it as a joke about assassination or a reference to political action, while others took it as a threat.

Politifact also noted that the premise behind Trump's remark—that Clinton wants to "abolish the Second Amendment"—was factually false.

In September, Trump repeated the false statement that Clinton wanted to abolish the Second Amendment and suggested that Clinton's Secret Service detail disarm themselves and "let's see what happens".

Khan is the father of Captain Humayun Khan , a U. Khan spoke about his son and criticized Trump for his Muslim ban proposals, asking if Trump had ever read the U.

Constitution , and offering to give him a copy. He stated that Trump had "sacrificed nothing and no one.

Trump replied that Khan was, "you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. Ghazala later responded by stating that at the time she was too emotional to speak.

When Trump was asked what he had sacrificed for his country, he told Stephanopoulos, "I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard.

I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success.

I think I've done a lot. Trump's comments touched off a firestorm of controversy by appearing to belittle the Khans, with public officials and commentators from all sides of the political spectrum arguing that he should show more respect to the parents of a fallen soldier.

Trump responded to the criticism on Twitter, stating that Khazir Khan "viciously attacked me" and tweeting: Khan, who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution which is false , and say many other inaccurate things.

When questioned about the Khans during the second presidential debate , Trump claimed that Humayun Khan would be alive had he been President in and referred to him as an "American hero".

The Khans responded by saying that they know that their son is an American hero. In December , Politifact named "the many campaign misstatements of Donald Trump" as its " Lie of the Year", noting at the time that 76 percent of Trump statements rated by the factchecking website were rated "Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire", more than any other politician.

In March , Politico Magazine analyzed 4. Trump's frequent praise for foreign leaders alleged of being either authoritarian or totalitarian prompted significant criticism from members of both major political parties.

Trump frequently praised Russia's Vladimir Putin , calling him a strong leader, "unlike what we have in this country," [] "a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond," [] and wondered if "he will become my new best friend.

In January , Trump commented on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un , first saying he's a "maniac", but then stating "you gotta give him credit" for the "incredible" way he eliminated his opponents to take charge of the country.

During the Republican debate on March 10, , Trump stirred controversy by saying that the Chinese government's massacre of unarmed civilians in Tiananmen Square was "horrible" and "vicious" but also "shows you the power of strength.

I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength. And then they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing.

It doesn't mean at all I was endorsing it. At a July 5 campaign rally, Trump again raised controversy by praising Saddam Hussein for being good at killing terrorists, saying Hussein was "a really bad guy" but "you know what he did well?

He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights. Trump's claim that following the fall of Saddam, Iraq has emerged as the 'Harvard' of terrorism is correct because Zarqawi in merged his terrorist group with al Qaeda to create "Al Qaeda in Iraq," which is the parent organization of today's ISIS.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan dissociated himself from the remarks, and a spokesman for Hillary Clinton said "Donald Trump's praise for brutal strongmen seemingly knows no bounds.

During his campaign, Trump frequently gave voice to fringe or conspiracy theories. Trump, for example, promoted the discredited belief that vaccines can cause autism unless administered according to a lengthened schedule.

Trump did not release his personal income tax returns , as nominees traditionally do, and said he does not plan to do so before the November election.

Before declaring for president he said he would "absolutely" release them if he decided to run for office. He says his lawyers told him not to release the returns because they are being audited.

He contends that voters are not interested and "there's nothing to learn from them". He told one interviewer that his tax rate is "none of your business".